


No Teacher Left Behind (the happy reunion remix)

by forgetme



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Remix, remix madness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 08:31:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1598369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgetme/pseuds/forgetme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><strong>Prompt:</strong><br/> </p><p>No safe story.</p><p>Lots of Naruto.  The other fandoms have one or two stories (RvB, Narnia, Yugioh, Fullmetal Alchemist, Bible, My Neighbor Totoro, Rev.)</p><p> <br/>----<br/>most of the dialogue is copy pasted from wei's wonderful ficlet. I feel like I should apologize for this thing, so... I'm sorry.</p>
    </blockquote>





	No Teacher Left Behind (the happy reunion remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wei/gifts).
  * Inspired by [No Teacher Left Behind](https://archiveofourown.org/works/254835) by [wei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wei/pseuds/wei). 
  * In response to a prompt by [wei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wei/pseuds/wei) in the [remixmadness2014](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/remixmadness2014) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>   
> 
> No safe story.
> 
> Lots of Naruto. The other fandoms have one or two stories (RvB, Narnia, Yugioh, Fullmetal Alchemist, Bible, My Neighbor Totoro, Rev.)
> 
>    
> \----  
> most of the dialogue is copy pasted from wei's wonderful ficlet. I feel like I should apologize for this thing, so... I'm sorry.

_Scratch- whump- scratch_

_Beep_

Gai smiled to himself as he grabbed another bowl and the milk bottle. He’d have to do something about the way his window stuck at some point, but not today.

_Splash_

_Beep_

He wiped at the spilled milk with his sleeve. Behind him there was the sound of someone climbing in through the window, the _thump_ of sandals hitting his floorboards. Trust Kakashi to be rude enough to keep his shoes on inside someone else’s house. Well, it was probably a sign of how close their friendship had become!

_Beep_

_Tap tap tap –_

_Creak_

Shoulders slumped, Kakashi settled into the chair across from Gai. He slung one arm over the backrest and made no move to touch the food on the table. Instead he just looked at Gai, his expression uncharacteristically pensive. It was a mission-look, the kind Kakashi only directed at him when they were knee-deep in trouble.

It was a dead giveaway.

"Hah! You need my help with something!”

_Clatter_

Gai had jumped up, almost sending his chair flying in his youthful enthusiasm. Thanks to his superb reflexes and excellent physical condition, he managed to catch it in the midst of striking an impressive Nice Guy pose.

_Beep_

"You have only to ask, for what else are eternal rivals for? I will not even count it against your wins," he declared, winking for emphasis, even as some tiny fraction of him started to wonder.

_What is that noise?_

Gai blinked.

“I think you're confusing one-sided rivalry with friendship," Kakashi drawled in that laconic manner of his that always set Gai’s perfect teeth on edge.

Cheering Kakashi up, that was the true challenge!

_Beep_

_What?_ Gai felt a strange shiver run down his spine. He glanced at the window. The sun hung low in the sky, round and yellow like the yolk of a boiled egg. His head hurt.

Kakashi, however, continued, “How did you do it? You started with a prissy, over talented kid with delusions of sororicide, a kid who should technically have never been allowed to graduate from the academy, and a girl who was constantly being overshadowed by the rest of her team. Somehow, you managed to form them into a team of capable, well respected ninja, and I don't understand what happened with my team."

_I don’t understand what happened with my team._

He could see them. Neji, Tenten, Lee. Perfect and beautiful and _young._ He could feel his heart expanding in his chest; he could feel it contracting, pumping blood through his ruined body.

Gai closed his eyes, his throat unbearably tight, too tight to breathe. It took everything to cross the distance between himself and Kakashi, to put his arms around his friend and squeeze as hard as he could.

"It's too late for it to matter, anyway," Kakashi said, his breath lingering on the skin of Gai’s neck, his eyes open, matching dark pupils fixed on some random point on the fading wall, "It's not like I have any students left."

Except that wasn't true anymore. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, they'd returned, hadn't they?

But Lee, Tenten and Neji...

Gai kept his own eyes closed. Eternity burned under his skin.

“Gai… don’t—“

Paradoxically, he could feel Kakashi hugging back. He could hear Kakashi’s voice, that panicked little hitch in it that made him want to hold on, to comfort his friend. But the voice was receding, slipping away with the last wisps of the memory.

Then, the touch of a hand.

_“Sensei? Are you coming?”_

_“Geez, it’s not like we’re in a hurry, don’t be so pushy, Neji!”_

_“Gai-sensei!”_

There they were.

Beyond kitchens, battlefields and hospital rooms, Team Gai was waiting for him after all.

end.


End file.
